City of Berlin wins top Spanish award

The award, which honours people and institutions that make a contribution towards peace, was given to Berlin in recognition of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Madrid -- The city of Berlin was on Thursday awarded Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias Concord prize, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the jury announced.

"The Berlin Wall, symbol of Europe's reunification, was for decades the worldwide representation of the Cold War," the jury said in a statement. "The peaceful revolution, which on November 1989 led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and subsequently to the reunification of Germany, has captivated millions of people worldwide, contributing significantly towards the reestablishment of the balance between the East and West."

Eight Prince of Asturias prizes each worth EUR 50,000 are awarded annually in categories such as arts, scientific research, sports, letters and humanities.

Named after Spain's Crown Prince Felipe, they are presented each autumn in the northern Spanish city of Oviedo, capital of the Asturias region.

The prize goes to persons or institutions "whose work has made an exemplary and outstanding contribution to mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence amongst men, to the struggle against injustice, poverty, disease or ignorance ... or has been outstanding in protecting and preserving mankind's heritage."

The 2008 Concord prize went to Ingrid Betancourt, the Colombian politician released after six years as a rebel hostage.

Other past winners include Jerusalem's Holocaust Museum, the UN Children's Fund UNICEF and J.K. Rowling, the British author of the Harry Potter books.